Body ID’d as abducted North Carolina teen

LUMBERTON, N.C. — A body found in North Carolina has been tentatively identified as a 13-year-old girl kidnapped outside her home, investigators said Wednesday, bringing a sad conclusion to a three-week search involving hundreds of investigators.

Lumberton Police Chief Michael McNeill told reporters at a news conference that state crime lab tests indicate the body found late Tuesday is Hania Aguilar. A final determination will be made with dental records.

“This is the outcome that we all feared,” McNeill said. “We did not want to hear this. We wanted to bring Aguilar Hania back home and bring her back home alive to our community. It hurts.”

The chief said Hania’s body was found in a body of water in Robeson County about 10 miles south of the mobile home park where she was kidnapped Nov. 5 after going outside to start a relative’s SUV before school.

Authorities said the body was not visible from the road. Investigators spent Wednesday combing the area in daylight after finding the body the previous night.

The cause of death hasn’t been released, pending an autopsy.

McNeill previously said that a witness saw a man dressed in black with a yellow bandanna grab Hania in the Rosewood Mobile Home Park in Lumberton. Police say the eighth grader had taken her aunt’s keys to start the vehicle to prepare to leave for the bus stop. They say the man forced her into a green Ford Expedition and drove off.

The SUV was found several miles south of her mobile home park. The body was found a few miles farther away.

A $30,000 reward remains in place for information related to the kidnapping, the FBI said.